Plus Sondheim old and (for the final time) new.
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Im curious about whether you have feelings about the year as a whole, the spring versus the fall.
I did likeParadeandSweeneya lot.
But as I was thinking back on it, the one that hit me hardest was the Encores!
revival ofThe Light in the Piazzawith Ruthie Ann Miles.
It was a gorgeous piece.
Rather like youre describing withPiazza: straightforward in many ways, beautifully acted, deeply felt but not schmaltzy.
Really, its been a great season for Irish playwrights overall.
Jackson:Right, you really liked the newWaiting for Godot.
I was especially thrilled byShadow of a Gunman.
Its talking about the most viciously cruel system, but playing it for laughs.
Sara: Oh, my God, I wish Id seen this.
When I sawWickeditself around the 20th anniversary I just thought,Well, this is not as good.
This should only be done in drag.
Sara:WhenPhantomclosed, I was like, Reopen it, but asRocky Horror.
Let it be camp!
Why not lean into some of these things as community pageants?
Even Annie BakersInfiniteLifethis fall has the specter of illness lingering over it.
Sara:I likedInfinite Lifeso much that I was genuinely surprised by the split opinion around it.
To me it radiated such extraordinary patience this incredible willingness to have us simply sit with something.
It all just sat there calmly facing us on these reclining chairs.
Jackson:The apocalypse has been unleashed already, but were going to make you sit gently with that.
Thats how I felt watchingThe Treestoo.
Sara:Its wild how many playwrightsmaybe kind of want to turn into treesright now?
I cant say I dont get it, though.
All these tree plays they feel like a way of processing grief and disempowerment and existential dread.
Like,is there a way to stay put and become part of the earth again?
Jackson: Theres even that tree by the side of the road inGodot.
I enjoyed an openness to the question of, Were these weird physical containers.
What does that mean?
Sara:Speaking of weird physical containers!
It was actually so sweet and welcoming.
It had this endearing PBS quality, with a wild improvisational layer on top.
It was dark and strange, but with lovingly old-fashioned showmanship.
and hes like, What do wedohere?
Jackson:Okay, its that time: Weve got to talk aboutMerrily We Roll Along.
Sara:Of course!
We both have it on our lists I mean, its been pretty universally praised.
Jackson:Who wouldve thought?
(Krystal Joy Browns Gussie really clicks in a bigger space.)
Sara:Look, he made one last hat.
I was happy its a weird, ambitious one.
Its songs just stop!
Theres something to not forcing a simple answer key onto it.
), but she makes the show work by playing the crux of its emotional core straight.
She stares down this thing and goes,lets commit to it.
People say Frank is a problem character?
Why not set it all in Franks house?
Sara:Its played straight with three people who are clearly so invested in each other as performers.
Theyre filling out the humanness of those parts.
Everybody is very exposed.
He doesnt tell us whether the band is through or not.
It shifts your focus from the end result to whatever happens along the way.
Sara:Thats fantastic.
So much meaning and beauty accumulates around that struggle.
(Take a Left, a terrible name!)
It can just hang there as this unfulfilled promise.
